01 February 2017

Using Registry Keys to configure MSI Installations

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After posting the video on how to use registry keys to pre-configure the settings of an MSI during installation, I got a lot of interest, so I decided to create this blog to explain how it works and why it can be beneficial. This method should not be considered as a standard use. It has a very small window of uses in deployments.

Some apps that I deploy are updated on a continuous basis and use MSI installers. The companies never change the MSI properties. Because of never changing the properties in the MSI database tables, this gives the opportunity to create a PowerShell installer script that pushes the registry keys down to the system before it installs the application. Those registry keys control the way the MSI functions during installation the same way calling properties at the msiexec.exe command line does. If you have apps that rarely change the properties of the MSI, this way can make future upgrades a lot easier.